


Keeping Up

by polgara



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-20
Updated: 2013-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-12 11:38:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/811179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polgara/pseuds/polgara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A rare, calm day in the life of Steve Rogers and Buffy Summers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeping Up

**Author's Note:**

> I own none of these characters, settings, or fandoms. They are the property of their respective creators and companies.

Buffy let a soft sigh escape her lips as she leaned back against the sofa. She closed her eyes and let the sound of Dawn and Tony arguing wash over her. The cushion next to her dipped as Steve joined her on the ratty, yet ridiculously comfy sofa. 

“How long do you think they’ve been at it?” He asked softly, not wanting to draw the attention of the pair. 

“Not long, maybe ten minutes,” Buffy offered. “Dawn is still in the ‘rolling her eyes because you’re an idiot and let me tell you why’ phase of her argument.” 

Steve chuckled. “She certainly has a command of the language.” 

“Several actually,” Buffy said with a proud grin as she opened her eyes to watch her sister. 

“Do you understand a word they are saying?” 

She shrugged awkwardly because of her position on the sofa. “Bits and pieces. You don’t get immersed in the world of the supernatural for as long as I have and not pick up a general idea of how magic works.” 

He nodded absently as the argument began gathering steam. “You would think they would tire of this topic. This is what, their fifth time?” 

“Sixth,” Buffy corrected with a snort. “You missed one last week. And that’s just the ones we know of.”   
Buffy and Steve had originally made their way into Tony’s lab to drag him and Dawn out for some sightseeing fun. The sisters had moved to New York shortly after the Chitauri invasion six months before to serve as liaisons between the Avengers and the Council. However, between meetings, moving, and Dawn’s fascination with both Tony and Bruce’s labs there had been very little free time. There was nothing planned for the day and Buffy was determined to go out. She had coerced Steve into her plans to force him out of the Tower for something other than a daily run around the city. 

She angled her head just enough to catch Steve watching the pair with a wistful look. Whenever he thought no one was looking a sad, lonely expression settled over his features. She knew that he was not adjusting to the 21st century as well as he made everyone believe he was. It was a personal mission of hers to reduce the number of times he looked like that. 

“Ice cream.” 

Steve turned confused blue eyes towards her. “Excuse me?” 

“We need ice cream,” she announced. She easily rose from the sofa and offered Steve her hand. 

For a moment she thought he’d refuse, but he eventually took it and allowed her to pull him to his feet. “What about - ?” 

“Forget ‘em,” she said with a lofty wave. Still holding his hand, she dragged him towards the elevator. “I’m tired of waiting on them. We’re grown adults, perfectly capable of doing a little sight-seeing of our own. And I want ice cream.” 

The doors slid open without them having to push any buttons. Once they were safely inside, it began making its descent. “JARVIS, where can we buy an ice cream cone big enough to even give Steve an ice cream headache?” Buffy asked with a huge grin on her face. 

********** 

Steve knew he shouldn’t have been surprised when the small ice cream cone he had ordered was at least eight inches high. JARVIS hadn’t been joking when he had told them about this place. Steve wasn’t positive he was going to be able to finish the whole cone. 

He looked over at Buffy as she walked along next to him and was surprised by the open enjoyment on her face. In the few months that he had known her, rarely had he seen her looking this free. Normally she was full of intense concentration as she worked on getting the two organizations communicating effectively or pleasantly guarded as she spent rare downtime with the team; as if she wasn’t sure of her place among them and was waiting to see if she had worn out her welcome. 

It was a thought that always shocked him as he couldn’t imagine anyone pushing Buffy aside. It wasn’t merely her vibrant personality but also how much she truly cared about helping and saving others. He was thankful that he knew her. 

“I think I should have asked for the child’s cone,” Steve lamented before he licked at the sticky trail the melting ice cream left on his hand. 

Buffy let out a silvery laugh. “I warned you. Didn’t you see the crazy cones the kids were carrying out?” 

“I thought they had ordered the larger sizes!” He admitted with a grin. “How was I to know?” 

“Point taken,” she said. She took a quick bite of her child’s size swirled cone. “So where do you want to go?” 

A frown tugged threateningly at his lips but he forced it back. “Can we just walk around and see where it takes us?” 

“Sure, it‘s as good a plan as any,” she replied weaving between several people on the street. 

The next several hours were spent with Steve pointing out how the city he had grown up in had changed over the years while he had been sleeping in the ice. Buffy listened with an attentive ear and occasionally asked questions about the differences he could detect. 

“So why’d you do it?” She suddenly asked as they stood at the railing looking at the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Steve blinked owlishly at her. For all the time he had spent with her and Tony, their habit of rapid changes in conversation topics never ceased to trip him. Some days it was all he could do just to keep up. “Do what?” 

“Step into that machine not knowing what it would do to you. If you would even survive.” Her eyes were intent on him. 

He ducked his head and his thumb came up to rub at his eyebrow as he thought over the best way to answer. Finally, he twisted to lean his hip against the railing so he could look her fully in the eye. “Because what else could I do? I was a scrawny nobody who just wanted to do his part. My body wasn’t capable of matching what my heart knew I could do. So I took a chance. I just got lucky.” 

“Do you regret it? Knowing what all you’ve missed over the years because you were frozen, kept alive because of you taking that chance?” 

His shoulders lifted slightly in a shrug. “I think I did, at first. Things have changed so much and I felt so out of place. Then the Avengers came along and it’s getting better, one step at a time. I’ll get there.” 

Buffy smiled softly at him, her eyes empathetic. “Good to hear. So, we have tomorrow off, too. What kind of trouble do you think we can get into?”


End file.
